Service aware switched SDH/SONET/TDM network

ABSTRACT

Method and apparatus to establish a communication link over a high speed communications network. A unique predetermined address assigned to a switching and access node of each network node of the high speed communications network is examined. In addition, a service address associated with a request to establish a communication link is examined. The service address indicates at least one of a type of service being requested, a network service detail, and a name of a desired service provider. Thereafter, an end-to-end communication link is established between the calling party and a destination party by routing a connection request through plural switching nodes in accordance with the calling party address, an address associated with the destination party, and the service address.

This is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/906,741,filed Jul. 18, 2001, the content of which is expressly incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed to a system and method for addingintelligence to a high speed communications network, such as, forexample, a SDH/SONET/TDM network, in order to enable the assignment oftime slots without user intervention.

2. Discussion of Background and Relevant Information

Today, telephone voice communications that originate at a firstlocation, such as, for example, New York, are rapidly and efficientlyrouted along a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to a terminatingpoint, such as, for example, Washington, D.C. without the assistance of,for example, an operator. However, this has not always been the case.When the telephone network company was originally designed, a pluralityof operators were employed across the country to assist in establishinga communication link. When the person in New York wished to speak withthe person in Washington, D.C., a New York operator would “patch” thecall to, for example, a New Jersey operator. The New Jersey operatorwould then “patch” the call through to, for example, a Delawareoperator. This process would be repeated as many times as necessary,until the call was received by an operator that handles calls in theWashington, D.C. region, who would then direct the call to the desiredparty. This process was inefficient and limited the number of separate(distinct) communications that could take place at any one time.

In order to automate the above procedure, a process was developed forassigning telephone numbers to telephone lines to provide for theautomatic routing of calls placed over the PSTN. In particular, a publicnetwork addressing standard, known as ITU-T Recommendation E.164, wasadopted, in which a unique address having a maximum of 15 digits isassigned to each telephone line.

As time passed, the amount of data transmitted over the PSTNdramatically increased. In addition, new types of data, such as, forexample, digital computer data, began to transmitted over the telephonenetwork. It was quickly determined that the PSTN was an inefficientnetwork for transmitting high speed digital data. Accordingly, workbegan on the development of a new network appropriate for handling thequantity and speed of digital data to be transmitted between locations.

In order to transmit large quantities of digital information, thetelecommunications industry developed a Synchronous Optical NETwork(SONET) that offers data transmission rates from approximately 51.84Mbps to approximately 13.22 Gbps. It is noted that SONET has beenadopted by the ITU-T with minor modifications (directed primarily totransfer speeds), where it is referred to as Synchronous DigitalHierarchy (SDH). SONET and SDH are closely related to each other, andfor purposes of the present discussion, may be considered to be thesame.

While SONET, SDH and Time Division Multiplex (TDM) networks permit theefficient transmission of large quantities of data, such networksrequire the manual setup and alteration of the origination andtermination points. Accordingly, it is difficult to rapidly and easilychange configurations and connection setups.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of theinvention will be apparent from the following more particulardescription of an embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawing,wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a network connection in accordance withan aspect of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to extend theautomation procedure applied to PSTN to SONET/TDM networks.Specifically, the present invention modifies the E.164 address scheme toextend it to SDH/SONET/TDM networks to enable call routing and lineoptimization without human intervention.

According to an object of the present invention, a method is disclosedfor automating an establishment of a communication link over a highspeed communications network, by assigning a unique address (such as,for example, an E.164 address) to each switching and access node of thehigh speed communications network, adding a calling party address to asignaling channel of the high speed communications network, andestablishing an end-to-end connection link between a calling party and adestination party by routing a connection request through pluralswitching nodes in accordance with the unique address assigned to eachswitching and access node and a unique address of the destination party.

According to an advantage of the present invention, the methodadditionally comprises associating a service address with the end-to-endconnection link to be established. The service address identifies aservice type (such as, for example, whether a voice, video, etc. serviceis desired) and/or a service sub-type (such as, for example, whether abasic video service, a premium IP service, etc. is desired) and/or aservice provider (such as, for example, the name of a desired serviceprovider). According to a feature of the invention, the name of thedesired service provider is provided in a URL format.

Another feature of the present invention is that an end-to-endconnection link is established between a calling party and a destinationparty by routing a connection request comprises requesting theend-to-end connection link through a UNI signaling protocol.

According to another object of the present invention, a method isdisclosed to establish a communication link over a high speedcommunications network, such as, for example, an optical network. Aunique predetermined address that is assigned to a switching and accessnode of each network node of the high speed communications network isexamined. A service address associated with a request to establish acommunication link that indicates at least one of a type of servicebeing requested, a network service detail, and a name of a desiredservice provider is also examined. Then, an end-to-end communicationlink between the calling party and a destination party is established byrouting a connection request through plural switching nodes inaccordance with the calling party address, an address associated withthe destination party, and the service address.

According to a feature of the invention, the end-to-end communicationlink is released by routing a release request along the communicationlink to release every used resource.

According to another feature of the invention, a source access noderequests an end-to-service connection via a UNI signaling protocol withinformation of a service address and a required network resource. In thedisclosed invention, the end-to-service connection comprises examining amapping database to determine an end address that best matches theservice address.

Another object of the present invention pertains to a communicationsnetwork (such as, for example, an optical network) that comprises aplurality of network nodes, in which each network node of the pluralityof network nodes are assigned a unique identifier address (such as, forexample, an E.164 address); an input device that enables a calling partyto select a desired service parameter and a destination partyidentification address; and a routing mechanism that routes acommunication transmission from a network node associated with a callingparty identification address related to the calling party, acrossselected network nodes of the plurality of network nodes in accordancewith associated unique identifier addresses to a destination partyrelated to the destination party identification address. The desiredservice parameter comprises at least one of a type of service that isdesired, a detail type of a desired service, and a desired serviceprovider.

According to a feature of the invention, the routing mechanism employs aGeneralized Multi-Protocol Label Switch (GMPLS) that is modified toinclude security enhancements.

SONET, TDM, and SDH networks are well known by those skilled in the art.Thus, they are not described herein in detail. While the followingdiscussion will be provided with respect to a SONET network, it isunderstood that the present invention is equally applicable to TDM andSDH networks, along with other, equivalent type networks.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a plurality of devices are interfaced to oneanother via switches that are connected via, for example, fiber (optic)lines and copper wire (twisted pair wiring) lines. While the drawing ofFIG. 1 only illustrates the use of copper wire and fiber for connectingthe plurality of switches, it is understood that alternative types ofconnecting devices, such as, but not limited to, wireless transmittersand receivers, may be used to interconnect various switches withoutdeparting from the spirit and/or scope of the present invention.Services transmitted over the network, include, but are not limited to,voice, video, IP and ATM.

The service-aware switched SONET/TDM/SDH network of the presentinvention is based upon a SONET Multi-Service Provisioning Platform(MSPP). The SONET MSPP includes, but is not limited to, thefunctionality of a TDM multiplexer, an IP router, an ATM switch, aStorage Area Network (SAN) switch, and a Gigabit Ethernet switch. Asthese elements are known by those skilled in the art, their structureand operation are not discussed herein. Further, it is understood thatalterations therein may be made without departing from the spirit and/orscope of the present invention.

A SONET Distributed Communications System (DCS) presently functions toswitch and rearrange private line voice, private line analog data, andT-1 lines, and perform all the functions of a normal “switch”.Connections are typically set up in advance of when the circuits are tobe switched (that is, not together with the call). Instead, the“connections” are made by calling an attendant, such as, for example, anoperator or technician, who manually, or by dialing in on a computerterminal, establishes (makes) the connection.

By the present invention, the SONET Distributed Communications System(DCS) switch is enhanced with the addition of modified GeneralizedMulti-Protocol Label Switch (GMPLS) software, which will be describedbelow, in order to enable the automatic establishment of connectionswithout assistance of the attendant or technician. The GMPLS software isknown to those skilled in telecommunications. Hence, only those“enhancements” implemented by the present invention to enable theautomatic connections will be described in detail.

Address Assignment

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical telecommunications configuration, in whicha plurality of connections are to be established. In order to automatethe switching operation, the GMPLS is enhanced (modified) to include aregister related to an end point address. Each network node (whichincludes a switching node and an access node) is assigned a single,unique global E.164 address, in a manner comparable to that for a PSTN.Similarly, each SDH/SONET/TDM link is assigned a single link identifierthat is locally unique to the network node.

Service Address

Each service must be assigned an address. According to the presentinvention, the service address includes a data field pertaining to atleast one of: (1) a service type; (2) a service sub-type; and (3) aservice provider. In the disclosed embodiment of the present invention,the service address data contains data directed to either the servicetype or the service provider. Further, it is understood that the serviceaddress can be defined to include additional data without departing fromthe spirit and/or scope of the invention.

In the present invention, the service type data identifies the type ofnetwork service. That is, the service type data identifies the serviceas being, for example, a voice connection, a video connection, an IPconnection, etc. In the present invention, the service sub-type dataprovides details about the type of network service. For example, theservice sub-type data may indicate that the service is, for example, apremium IP service, a basic video service, etc. The service providerdata indicates, for example, the name of the desired service provider,such as, for example, Sprint or AT&T. It is noted that in the disclosedembodiment of the invention, the service provider name is specified in aURL format, such as, for example, sprint.com or xyz.net. However, it isunderstood that alternative formats may be utilized without departingfrom the spirit and/or scope of the present invention.

Signaling Plane

A Data Communication Channel (DCC) comprises channels contained withinsection and line overhead that is used as embedded operation channels tocommunicate with each network element. DCC is employed with SONETnetworks; its configuration and operation is well known by those skilledin the art, and thus, is not discussed in detail herein.

According to the present invention, the modified GMPLS runs overIntelligent Peripherals (IP), which in turn runs over the signalingchannel. The GMPLS routing address is assigned by a network operator foroptimized routing. It is noted that the GMPLS routing address is notnecessarily the same as the node's E.164 address. If the routing addressis different from the node's E.164 address, the switching node maps thedestination node's E.164 address to the GMPLS routing address and routesthe connection request according to the mapped GMPLS routing address. Inthis way, the fuinctionality of PSTN's local number portability iscreated in the switched SDH/SONET/TDM network. A user can thus movehis/her access node onto a different location of the network and retainits E.164 address. The service provider's network will map the E.164address to a new GMPLS routing address for connection purposes.

According to the present invention, the User Network Interface (UNI)signaling protocol employs the modified version of GMPLS. The UNIsignaling protocol is known to those skilled in the art oftelecommunications, and thus, a detailed description of the protocol isomitted herein. In the present invention, GMPLS is modified to enhancesecurity to ensure that no network topology information is shared withthe access node. In addition, a user request message is modified toalways contain the address of the calling party by, for example,providing the requesting node's E.164 address. In this regard, anIntra-domain Network Network Interface (Intra-NNI) signaling protocol isbased on GMPLS, while an Inter-domain Network Network Interface(Inter-NNI) signaling-protocol is based on GMPLS with the addition ofthe above-mentioned security enhancement, so that only networkreachability information sharing with another network is permitted.

Service

In the present invention, a source access node requests an end-to-endconnection to the network using a standard UNI signaling protocol thatcontains information of the destination access node E.164 address and arequired network resource. The connection request is routed through thenetwork via the different switching nodes, and reserves the resourcealong the way. If the network can not provide the requested resource,the network sends a reject response back to the source access node.

The destination access node determines whether to accept or reject theconnection request, and sends an appropriate response (e.g., acceptanceresponse or rejection response) back to the source access node. Thenetwork then either allocates or releases the resource and passes theresponse back to source access node. When the source access nodereceives the acceptance response, the connection is established.

It is noted that in the disclosed embodiment, either the source accessnode or the destination access node may release the connection at anytime. The release request is routed along the connection and every usedresource is released, until the request reaches the other end of theconnection. However, it is understood that variations in the release ofthe connection may be implemented without departing from the spiritand/or scope of the present invention.

End-To-Service Connection

According to the current invention, a source access node requests anend-to-service connection to the network using the UNI signalingprotocol with information of the service address and required networkresource. However, it is noted that the end-to-service connection may beimplemented in other ways without departing from the scope and/or spiritof the present invention.

In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, the network examines amapping database to find out the E.164 end address of the best matchingservice node for the service address. The criteria to be matched in themapping database may be related to, but is not limited to, for example,the location, usage, date, time, etc. However, other parameters may beemployed without departing from the scope and/or spirit of theinvention. Once the E.164 end address is determined, the Serviceprocess, described above, is executed to end the connection.

Although the invention has been described with reference to an exemplaryembodiment, it is understood that the words that have been used arewords of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation.Changes may be made within the purview of the appended claims, aspresently stated and as amended, without departing from the scope and/orspirit of the invention in its aspects. Although the invention has beendescribed with reference to particular means, materials and embodiments,the invention is not intended to be limited to the particularsdisclosed; rather, the invention extends to all functionally equivalentstructures, methods, and uses such as are within the scope of theappended claims.

In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, themethods described herein are intended for operation as software programsrunning on a computer processor. Dedicated hardware implementationsincluding, but not limited to, application specific integrated circuits,programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices can likewise beconstructed to implement the methods described herein. Furthermore,alternative software implementations including, but not limited to,distributed processing or component/object distributed processing,parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also beconstructed to implement the methods described herein.

It should also be noted that the software implementations of the presentinvention as described herein are optionally stored on a tangiblestorage medium, such as: a magnetic medium such as a disk or tape; amagneto-optical or optical medium such as a disk; or a solid statemedium such as a memory card or other package that houses one or moreread-only (non-volatile) memories, random access memories, or otherre-writable (volatile) memories. A digital file attachment to email orother self-contained information archive or set of archives isconsidered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storagemedium. Accordingly, the invention is considered to include a tangiblestorage medium or distribution medium, as listed herein and includingart-recognized equivalents and successor media, in which the softwareimplementations herein are stored.

Although the present specification describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Each of the standards for Internet and other packet-switchednetwork transmission (e.g., TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTML, SHTML, DHTML, XML,PPP, FTP, SMTP, MIME); peripheral control (IrDA; RS232C; USB; ISA; ExCA;PCMCIA), and public telephone networks (ISDN, ATM, xDSL) representexamples of the state of the art. Such standards are periodicallysuperseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentiallythe same functions. Accordingly, replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents.

1. A method for automating establishment of a communication link over ahigh speed communications network, comprising: assigning a uniqueaddress to each switching and access node of the high speedcommunications network; adding a calling party address to a signalingchannel of the high speed communications network; and establishing anend-to-end connection link between a calling party and a destinationparty by routing a connection request through plural switching nodes inaccordance with the unique address assigned to each switching and accessnode and a unique address of the destination party.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising associating a service address with theend-to-end connection link to be established.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the service address comprises identifying at least one of aservice type, a service sub-type, and a service provider.
 4. The methodof claim 3, wherein identifying a service type comprises identifying atype of desired network service.
 5. The method of claim 3, whereinidentifying a service sub-type comprises identifying a detail of adesired network service.
 6. The method of claim 3, wherein identifying aservice provider comprises identifying a name of a desired serviceprovider.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying a name of adesired service provider comprises specifying the desired serviceprovider in a URL format.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein establishingan end-to-end connection link between a calling party and a destinationparty by routing a connection request comprises requesting theend-to-end connection link through a UNI signaling protocol.
 9. A methodto establish a communication link over a high speed communicationsnetwork, comprising: examining a unique predetermined address assignedto a switching and access node of each network node of the high speedcommunications network; examining a service address associated with arequest to establish a communication link that indicates at least oneof: a type of service being requested; a network service detail; and aname of a desired service provider; and establishing an end-to-endcommunication link between the calling party and a destination party byrouting a connection request through plural switching nodes inaccordance with the calling party address, an address associated withthe destination party, and the service address.
 10. The method of claim9, further comprising releasing the end-to-end communication link byrouting a release request along the communication link to release everyused resource.
 11. The method of claim 9, further comprising: having asource access node request an end-to-service connection via a UNIsignaling protocol with information of a service address and a requirednetwork resource.
 12. The method of claim 11, the end-to-serviceconnection further comprising: examining a mapping database to determinean end address that best matches the service address to establish theend-to-end connection.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the high speedcommunication network comprises an Optical Network.
 14. A communicationsnetwork, comprising: a plurality of network nodes, each network node ofsaid plurality of network nodes being assigned a unique identifieraddress; an input device that enables a calling party to select adesired service parameter and a destination party identificationaddress; and a routing mechanism that routes a communicationtransmission from a network node associated with a calling partyidentification address related to said calling party, across selectednetwork nodes of said plurality of network nodes in accordance withassociated unique identifier addresses to a destination party related tosaid destination party identification address.
 15. The communicationsnetwork of claim 14, wherein said desired service parameter comprises atleast one of: a type of service that is desired; a detail type of adesired service; and a desired service provider.
 16. The communicationsnetwork of claim 14, wherein said routing mechanism employs aGeneralized Multi-Protocol Label Switch (GMPLS) modified to includesecurity enhancements.
 17. The communication network of claim 14,wherein said communication network comprises an optical network.